


the art of rectifying mistakes

by cosmofire



Series: block men go brrrrr [8]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Bakery, Baking, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, One Shot, Siblings, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:40:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29703477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmofire/pseuds/cosmofire
Summary: “Don’t touch that gingerbread house, Tall Boy. It’s still unstable.”Ranboo laughed and held his hands up in surrender. “Hey, chill out! Don’t worry Niki, I’ve got all this under control.”Niki’s frown deepened and she raised two fingers to her eyes, then pointed them back at Ranboo before slinking out of the doorway and into the snow.Ranboo is staying with his sister, Niki, for the Christmas holidays at her bakery, and falls right in to the world of baking.(or, the memory boy is clumsy)
Relationships: Niki | Nihachu & Ranboo
Series: block men go brrrrr [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2082168
Comments: 3
Kudos: 27





	the art of rectifying mistakes

**Author's Note:**

> this is dedicated to my incredible brother and friend, fish :]  
> fish means the absolute world to me and i wrote this lil fic to cheer him up. not only does he constantly remind me how much i mean to him, but he's the sweetest boy i've ever had the pleasure of knowing, and he's an incredible upcoming streamer! 
> 
> you can check out [fish's twitch channel here!](https://www.twitch.tv/graveboyseason)
> 
> and his [twitter here!](https://twitter.com/graveboyseason?s=20)

Endermen don’t do well in the rain, as many are aware. But, what about snow? … Unfortunately not. Nonetheless, Ranboo loves the snow and tries his best to admire it when it falls, while also keeping an eye on what touches him. To do this, he’s usually equipped with a large green umbrella (gifted from Phil) to ensure that nothing touches him whilst he’s outside in the snow.

It was December, and nearing the end of the school term for the Christmas break. This time of year had always been important to Ranboo; full of happiness, family, _snow_ \- and this year he was spending the holiday with his sister away from home.

Ranboo was particularly close with his sister while growing up, but with her being a few years older it meant that she left home sooner to chase her dream: owning and manning a bakery. 

Even though the aspiration was a tough one to achieve, Niki persevered and was successful in making a lovely and quaint bakery in a few towns over from her hometown. Ranboo couldn’t be prouder of his sister, and was determined to achieve the same success as Niki did to make her proud too.

The town that Niki made a new life in was small, but lively. The townspeople of Tenby knew everyone who lived there, and made sure to make Ranboo feel welcome and at home, of which he was incredibly grateful for. It was an old Tudor style town that sat next to a lush natural park, with old but sturdy houses that instantly made you feel comfortable and welcomed, but was also lined with history and heritage. The main street was constantly alive with the marketplace and buskers, and the smells wafting from various home-made cafes and restaurants wrapped the friendly atmosphere up with a bow. 

Ranboo had loved Tenby before the snow, but areas _with snow_ made everything that bit more special. He had seen the town transform before his eyes; when the snow fell, the christmas lights went up alongside the gigantic fern tree in the town square, and the buskers teamed up to perform carols during the day and eve.

As Ranboo strolled through the town centre, equipped with bright red wellington boots and his trusty green umbrella, he resisted the demanding urge to reach out a hand from under his shelter to grab at the falling snowflakes. Even if he wasn’t able to touch them, he was content enough to admire from afar. He continued down the main street, making his way towards the warm bakery where the fresh and delicate aroma of cupcakes and bread wafted through the cold breeze; guiding him home.

Upon reaching the stone steps before the viridian door, Ranboo was able to collapse his umbrella and stand under the cream coloured canopy that overhung the front of the bakery. Shivering slightly from the cold, he stamped off his boots and shook off the remaining snow from his umbrella - ensuring that nothing touched him. 

Turning around, a gentle smile settled onto his face as he watched his sister bustle around the bakery with a concentrated look etched onto her face. From what he could see, there weren’t any customers in at the moment (unsurprising, as it was close to closing time), so his curiosity piqued at the thought of Niki working on something so late in the working day.

Stomping the snow from his boots once more, he pushed the wooden door open, and a chime tinkled throughout the shop front. Niki momentarily paused her bustling to catch a glimpse of who entered the shop with a smile.

“Ranboo!” She grinned, straightening her back and dusting her hands off on her dirty apron loosely tied around her neck. “Welcome back! How was your day at the pet centre?”

Ranboo returned the grin, and closed the door behind him to keep the warmth from seeping out. “It was good, I couldn't go outside much to see the dogs but I stayed in with the cats and smaller pets.”

“I’m glad,” Niki smiled. On a table behind her were _a lot_ of ingredients, messy bowls, and stray baking equipment. Noticing Ranboo’s confused look, Niki chuckled and gestured to the mess on the table. “I haven’t closed the shop down yet, but I couldn’t wait to bake the gingerbread house I told you about the other day. So, I figured I’d multitask and man the shop front at the same time.”

Ranboo raised his eyebrows. “Isn’t that putting a bit too much pressure on yourself?”

“Not at all! Besides, now that you’re back you can man the shop while I go fetch some more icing.” Niki made her way across the floor to the coat hooks beside the counter to grab her winter coat and swing it on - not bothering to take off her apron. “I forgot to restock on tubes before I started making it,” she admitted quietly, hastily pulling on a bobble hat.

“No problem, Niki!” Ranboo sent her a thumbs up, “I’ll take care of everything here while you’re gone. Be safe out there! It’s very cold.”

“You’re the best,” Niki grinned, reaching for the door. Before she made her whole way out of the shop, she whipped back around with a pointed finger and a mocking frown. “Don’t touch that gingerbread house, Tall Boy. It’s still unstable.”

Ranboo laughed and held his hands up in surrender. “Hey, chill out! Don’t worry Niki, I’ve got all this under control.”

Niki’s frown deepened and she raised two fingers to her eyes, then pointed them back at Ranboo before slinking out of the doorway and into the snow. 

After Ranboo was sure she was gone, he let out a deep sigh and dropped his hands; finally letting the warmth of the bakery sink into his bones. Pulling his arms out of his coat, he noticed that most of the day’s stock had been sold off, apart from a few scones, sponges, some bread rolls, and one last red velvet cupcake. 

After hanging up the coat, Ranboo grinned and skidded around the counter, grabbing the tongs from a cubby hole and fished the cupcake out from where it sat. He smugly smiled to himself, and returned the tongs to their living place before rounding back around the counter - his eyes fixated on the red chocolatey goodness in his hands. He deserved this after a hard day at work, and promised himself that he’d pay Niki back later on after she gave him a bollocking for stealing it.

Just as he was about to take a bite from the soft and airy glory, his foot caught under a bag of flour and his ankle painfully twisted, causing him to fall forwards. 

“Oh no.”

Before he could collide with the table and knock himself out, he stretched out his arms to brace himself. The table shook under his weight, sending some smaller pieces of baking equipment to fall over the edge and onto the floor. Ranboo’s eyes widened with worry.

“The gingerbread house!”

He glanced at the construction site across the table, and the half-assembled house shuddered under the force of which Ranboo sent through the table. It was going to fall apart.

Dropping his cupcake onto the table, Ranboo jolted up to dash around the table, stretching out his large hands in attempts to stabilise the house. However, before he could get there the construction broke, and the gingerbread pieces dropped onto the table into a biscuit-y mess.

Ranboo stilled; his eyes wide and arms still stretched out in front of him. “This isn’t good.”

Niki would be returning soon, and dealing with sad Niki is so much worse than any other Niki. Ranboo straightened his back and stared at the pitiful pile of gingerbread; he was going to have to do _something_ , but he had no real skill in the finer things like baking. Still, he thought he would try his best to reassemble the house.

“Let’s hope that no more customers come in,” Ranboo muttered, glancing at the clock on the wall behind the counter. “Thirteen minutes until the shop shuts? Awesome. Niki should be back in about twenty minutes, so that gives me some time to work with.”

He surveyed the messy table in front of him for any sign of a reference that Niki was working from to build the gingerbread house; while Niki was fantastically creative and intuitive, Ranboo hoped that she would’ve been lazy and work from a book instead. After a moment, he spotted some pages under a large mixing bowl, and moved to snatch it up to retrieve the book from underneath. He grinned. “Bingo.”

Although the pages were covered in flour and batter, Ranboo was still able to make out the instructions and the picture of the house Niki was making. “Well this looks relatively easy,” he hummed, wiping the flour from the paper to get a clearer look. 

Fortunately, none of the gingerbread pieces had broken during the fall and Ranboo was eternally thankful for that. He started to separate the pieces to organise them into certain groups and sizes, hoping that it would make the process a lot easier for him. He then began to reassemble the pieces back together, using some left over icing glue that Niki had left on the side.

When the clock struck five o’clock, Ranboo paused his work to shut down the shop. Luckily for him, no one else had entered the shop since Niki left (it also meant that more baked goods would be given to him for desert later on), so he closed the shutters, flipped the sign, and shut down the cash register.

Ranboo glanced up at the clock again and noted that Niki was going to return shortly. Brushing his fringe back with a flour-covered hand, he took a deep breath and dove back into constructing the gingerbread house. His hands shook as he coordinated the pieces together, terrified of knocking the house down again and having to restart or _be caught_. He shuddered at the thought of Niki being upset; but at the end of the day, his work would be better than a pile of biscuit and sticky icing, and that’s all that mattered to Ranboo.

With his tongue sticking from the corner of his mouth, Ranboo managed to place the last roof piece onto the house without it collapsing. Before stepping away from his crouched position, he lifted his hands from the house and prayed that it would stay stable.

After a few moments of nothing, he allowed himself to breathe and straightened his back to lift his arms above his head in a thankful cheer.

“I did it! Let’s go!”

Lowering his hands again, he took another look at the gingerbread house. It wasn’t as good as Niki’s version before, and it _did_ look like it had taken a tumble, but overall it was decent. Ranboo was sure that Niki would be able to fix it up if it didn’t meet her standards.

Not a moment later, a chime tinkled throughout the shop. 

“Hey, I’m back! Thanks for shutting down the shop I really—” 

Niki had bundled through the door, hands full of shopping bags, messy apron still tied around her neck. She had caught sight of Ranboo stood by the newly-built gingerbread house, and although Ranboo thought it looked okay, it really didn’t. The roof slabs were sliding off the walls, biscuit pieces were in the wrong place, some pink icing had coated one slab of biscuit, and _somehow,_ Ranboo had managed to put the front door piece _upside down_.

Niki blinked. “Ranboo, what have you done.”

Ranboo let out a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his neck, trying his best to avoid eye-contact with his sister. “I tripped.”

“You tripped?”

“Yeah, I wasn’t looking where I was going and I tripped over a bag of flour on the floor and fell onto the table and accidentally made the gingerbread fall apart. Why is there a bag of flour in the middle of the floor anyway? But I’m really sorry, Niki! I tried to—” Ranboo was cut off when Niki grabbed onto his shirt and dragged him into the back room.

“You tripped and fell?” Niki cried, worry splashed onto her features as she guided Ranboo onto a chair. “Are you okay, Ranby?”

Ranboo furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Yeah, I’m fine, but your gingerbread house—”

“Shut up about the house, we can work on that later,” Niki huffed, turning around to snatch a first aid kit from a nearby shelf. “I’m sorry about the bag of flour. It was delivered today but I wasn’t strong enough to move it to the side! I should’ve asked you to move it before I left.” 

She turned back around to face Ranboo with a cold compress and antiseptic wipes in her hands. Ranboo rolled his eyes and gently pushed her hands away. “Niki, I’m fine, really. I’ll go move that bag for you now.” He moved to get up, but Niki grabbed his wrist.

“Are you sure? You didn’t hit your head or anything?”

“Nah,” Ranboo smiled. “I caught myself with my hands before I could hit the table.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me that?” Niki cried, releasing her brother’s wrist to gently hit him on the arm. “Now shoo! Go move that bag of flour. I’ll deal with the gingerbread house later, I’ll make us some dinner.”

“Yes ma’am,” Ranboo saluted before falling back on his heels and making his way onto the shop floor. He bent down to pick up the floor, and then hauled it into the backroom and through the storage cupboard door. 

Wiping his hands off, he remembered the red velvet cupcake he left on the table earlier. With a smile, he retrieved the cupcake and began to make his way upstairs to his room. Before he made it to the top of the stairs, a cry bellowed from downstairs.

“Ranboo! What the hell is this? It’s horrific!”

Ranboo winced. “Whoops.”

**Author's Note:**

> as always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!
> 
> i hope you enjoyed :]


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